KNIGHTSEN -- The only website dedicated to the community ofKnightsen has gone dark. Knightsen.net is no more, following thetown advisory council's recent decision to discontinue allaffiliation with the site, operated since the mid-1990s by a formercouncil member.
Although the vote was unanimous, the five members on the councilhad differing reasons for their votes.
Former advisory council member John Gonzales created and ranKnightsen.net. Through the site he interacted with people interestedin local real estate and schools, and answered questions about townhistory. The site also had links to every government agency andelected politician connected to the 1,100-resident community.
Gonzales quit the council in 2008, but continued to maintain thesite for the council, which had more than 6,000 hits over a 12-month period between 2009 and 2010, he said.
"That's pretty good for a community of our size," he said.
In 2010, several members of the advisory council left and werenot replaced. Eventually county supervisors voted to hand overcouncil duties to the Knightsen Community Services District board,which now meets separately as the town council.
In the seven months the council did not meet, the website billcontinued to increase.
Gonzales said as of Dec. 1, KTAC owes about $160 to pay thewebsite's hosting company for last year's bill.
He said he has sent several letters to Supervisor Mary Piepho'soffice and to KTAC Chairwoman Linda Weekes informing them that thebill was past due and needed to be paid. Gonzales has been receivingdelinquency bills for KTAC's website and has been forwarding thosebills to both Peipho and Weekes for more than a year, he said.
Piepho said the county has no intention of paying the billbecause she says there was never any formal contract. Gonzales couldhave shut the site down at any time, she said.
"The website wasn't set up by a government agency," she said. "Itwas set up by an individual. It's never been a CSD or (KnightsenTown Advisory Council) account."
Knightsen Community Service District board member Mike Walko saidhe had never used the website and did not think it was important tothe community.
"I didn't even realize it existed until the issue of the billcame up," he said. "The bill came due and we decided, 'Why keepusing it if we're not getting any use of it?' "
Weekes said she had asked Gonzales for more than a year to postadvisory council agendas and other notices on the site, a claim thatGonzales denies.
Instead of focusing on posting meeting documents, Gonzalesconcentrated on the historical pages, she said.
"It had stuff on there that was not pertinent to the communityservice district," Weekes said. "We don't have the time to delveinto that (historical material)."
Piepho agreed with Weekes and added that no government officialhad access to the website after Gonzales left the advisorycommittee. Gonzales, however, said he gave Weekes access to thesite.
Service district board member Al Simas said the district did nothave the resources available to maintain a website, which many inthe community would never use.
"I don't know how many people read it here," he said. "A lot ofpeople here aren't Internet-literate, myself included."
While Simas said putting Knightsen's historical blueprint onlinewas not the district's responsibility, Gonzales was welcome to runKnightsen.net privately.
"John has always done a good job with the historical-typeissues," Simas said. "Without him a lot of the history might beforgotten."
But, as KTAC continues to own the domain name, knightsen.net, forthe next three years, Gonzales says he could not legally continuethe website on his own.
Community service district board member Jan Brown said the boardwill consider other options about having an online presence.
"We'll probably get a Facebook page just like everyone else," shesaid.
Contact Roman Gokhman at 925-779-7189. Follow him at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter.
No comments:
Post a Comment